Classic Car Rally Raises $20,000 For Kiwi Kids In One Weekend with 2013 Variety Mini Bash!

The final cheque is in and Variety - The Children's Charity is delighted to confirm that funds raised from the 2013 Variety Mini Bash totalled $19,491 from just one three-day weekend.

The Bash – named after its early Bush-bashing days – puts classic car fans on a mission to raise funds for Kiwi kids who need a hand-up, and some of that money gets delivered during the Mini Bash. This year $8200-worth of grants were delivered, including a Rifton Support station to Samisoni Fuavao at Richmond Special school.

The convoy of 18 cars and fire engines laden with generous folk in fancy dress brought fun and mayhem to 11 schools and 1950 children over the three days, as well as calling in at Pukekohe Race Track’s Kids in Cars day to take sick children for a circuit of the track – the fire engines proving especially popular for the ease with which they’ll accommodate those in wheelchairs.

Bash folk also provided manpower for working bees at rural schools, wielding paintbrushes and shovels, planting gardens and even building a playhouse.

Among the Bashers was a line-up of celebrities, as you’d expect from Variety’s entertainment roots, including Variety vice patrol Simon Dallow, and Variety ambassadors Ewen Gilmour and Mark Wright, as well as Ronald McDonald and comedians Tarun Mohanbhai and Jared Fell.

Why do the celebrities get involved? Mark Wright says it all – “All the money raised in New Zealand stays in New Zealand to help Kiwi kids first, and I’m a big believer in looking after your own back yard,” and better still, “you see first-hand the rearl face of the recipients.”

That’s what keeps the bashers coming back year after year, working hard to raise money in their own communities then joining in on the twice-yearly ‘bash’ rallies alongside generous sponsors like Ford New Zealand, the AA and McDonalds New Zealand.

The Variety Mini Bash 2013 – Statistics

·       $19,491 net funds raised

·        Over 1950 children visited

·        Over $8200 already distributed across the weekend

·        11 school visits.

·        18 Bash vehicles

·        95 participants

ENDS

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